The invention relates generally to mops for cleaning floors, and more particularly to a mop that can be wrung by rotating a sleeve slidably disposed on the handle of the mop.
Many devices have addressed the shortcomings often associated with the operation of a wringing mop. U.S. Pat. No. 6,212,728 describes a self-wringing ratchet mop with a tubular member having at least one pawl. When the pawl engages one of the longitudinal channels built in the elongated handle, the tubular member is rotatable in only one direction, thereby preventing slippage or unintended rotation of the mop strands during a wringing operation. The pawl is disengaged from the longitudinal channel by moving the tubular member along the axis of the handle, thus freeing the mop strands from wringing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,858 describes a string mop with a wringer which is slid from a first position to a second position over a wet mop head of a mop to extract water. Mop strands are wrung by forcing a collar over a pleated sleeve which compresses the enclosed mop head.
Many of the prior art wringing mops are very complicated in design, usually involving many structural components. Some of the wringing mop systems have obvious advantages; however, they are expensive to manufacture.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a wringing mop which is simpler to manufacture and operate than the prior art wringing mops.
A hollow sleeve, sidably disposed on the handle of the mop, comprises at least one pair of longitudinal walls protruding from the interior surface of the sleeve. As the sleeve is slid over a wet mop head of the mop, the terminal ends of mop strands are retainably held captive in the passageway formed by the walls. The mop strands are wrung dry by rotating the sleeve with respect to the handle of the mop.
In another embodiment of the invention, a tubular member is disposed coaxially and rotatable about a sleeve. Mop strands caught in the passageway defined by a first pair of walls in the tubular member near the terminal ends of the mop strands are twisted with respect to the upper portion of the mop strands held captive by a second pair of walls in the sleeve near the distal end of the mop handle, resulting in a wringing action of the mop head. In another embodiment of the invention, the mop comprises a scrubber depending from a distal end of the sleeve mounted co-axially on the handle of the mop.